


Smile

by thewightknight



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:28:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24022114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/pseuds/thewightknight
Summary: The first time Hawke saw Fenris smile, he thought his heart would stop.
Relationships: Fenris/Male Hawke
Comments: 6
Kudos: 91





	Smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cypheroftyr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cypheroftyr/gifts).



> I was going through my files and found this first line saved in a Word doc, inspired by something cypheroftyr said months ago on discord, and the rest flowed out today.

The first time Hawke saw Fenris smile, he thought his heart would stop. Fenris didn’t know he was there. On his way to the Hanged Man, he’d seen Fenris across the market. A spray of flowers had sprung up in a crack in the street next. Fenris had bent down and picked one, bringing it to his nose, and the corners of his mouth had curved up as he inhaled its scent.

Hawke had never given much thought to those flowers before. They sprung up like weeds all around Lowtown. But that day he stopped to pick one too. It didn’t smell all that special, he thought, but he picked some more. He put them in a scavenged vase in the tiny room he shared with Carver. Carver started to make a smart remark on them, but something in Hawke’s face made him stop.

“Mother might like some,” was all he said. And he was right. Over the next several days they managed to acquire several more vases. They spent an afternoon picking flowers, for once not at odds with each other, and filled Gamlen’s hovel with them. Gamlen complained, but Gamlen always complained. The look on Leandra’s face made it worthwhile.

One vase of flowers somehow managed to end up on the doorstep of Fenris’ appropriated mansion.

Somehow Merrill got word of it. Only she could have gotten away with sticking one behind Fenris’ ear, a small white bloom to match the one she already wore. He might have protested, but she’d already adorned Hawke and Varric similarly.

“You’ll be part of the set this way!” she said as he tried to duck. “There. Now you match.”

He left it there and somehow it didn’t get dislodged during the skirmish that followed. It was an easier fight than some. Maybe the bandits were distracted by the sight of them all wearing flowers. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The first time Hawke had heard Fenris laugh, they’d been exploring a cave on the Wounded Coast. A spider had landed on Hawke. It wasn’t one of the giant ones that popped out of side caverns and attacked you. No, it was a little one that had dropped down from rocks above, descending on a gossamer strand. They were expecting an attack at any moment–lyrium smugglers or deep stalkers or whatever else might lurk in the dank caverns.

When it appeared in front of Hawke’s face he’d panicked, flailing wildly about as he tried to brush it off his face, where it had landed. He stumbled over a rough patch of rock in the process and ended up landing on his ass in the middle of the cave as the spider flew off to Maker knows where.

Fenris’s laugh surprised him more than the spider had. He watched, amazed, as great guffaws escaped Fenris. The elf ended up leaning against the wall of the cave, clutching his sides, breathless, as his fit passed. When Hawke brushed at his face again, imagining he still felt the prickle of tiny legs, Fenris chuckled again as he offered Hawke his hand, and there was that smile again. 

Hawke thought he was the only one who had ever heard Fenris sound like that, but once he sat in on a game of Wicked Grace at Donnic's, and he was jealous for half a second before deciding that no, it was good. Anything that made Fenris laugh was good. When he laughed, the whole world stopped in wonder.

Fenris even started cracking jokes.

One day when they rendezvoused in the Hanged Man, Anders complained, “And this is one of the better taverns around here.”

 **“** They let you in,” Fenris replied. “It can't be that much better.”

It took a moment for the comment to sink in. When it did, Anders’ jaw fell open in shock. He looked ridiculous, Hawke thought. Apparently Fenris did too, because Hawke clearly heard him chuckle.

“I’ll get you for that,” Anders said eventually.

“I’ll be waiting,” was Fenris’ response.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As the weeks passed, Fenris laughed and smiled with increasing frequency. The number of those smiles directed at Hawke also increased. Even though they were no longer so rare, each smile was still more precious to Hawke than all the treasure they’d brought out of the Deep Roads.

None were so precious as the one, years later, after they’d dealt with Danarius once and for all.

“What’s important now is moving forward. I only wish I knew where that led,” Fenris had told him afterwards.

“Wherever it leads, I hope it means we’ll stay together,” Hawke said.

“That is my hope as well,” Fenris said in response, and it was only a slight upwards curve of Fenris’ lips, but it made Hawke’s heart sing.

When he left Kirkwall at last, it was with Fenris at his side. As they strode through the gates, the city at their back and the sun rising over Sundermount before them, Fenris took his hand and smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you want to say hi, [check out my profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewightknight/profile) for where I’m currently hanging out on this here internet thing. If you liked this, please share! Kudos are love and comments are always appreciated.


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